


Smile (It's Christmas!)

by sebasent



Series: Olivarry Holiday Weekend 2015! [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: (again) (im sorry), A little angst, Angst, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Mistletoe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-05-07 21:24:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5471282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sebasent/pseuds/sebasent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barry and Oliver get caught under mistletoe, and things don't go as one would think they would.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Smile (It's Christmas!)

**Author's Note:**

> Day two: Free Day!  
> It's a little later than yesterday, but still here<3  
> sooo this dragged on for longer than intended. sorry? or not. i just couldn't leave it as angsty as it was originally OTL

Seven years ago, if you’d given Oliver a Christmas party invitation, he would’ve accepted it, no questions asked; hell, _he_ would have been the one giving out the invitations, hundreds of them. He used to think that Christmas was the happiest time of the year- his favourite holiday, in fact- and had a different date to every party.

Now, though, after everything that’s happened, he can’t even bring himself to send out Christmas greetings. It doesn’t feel _right,_ not without his mother, father, Thea, hell, even Tommy. In the island there were no holidays, and in Hong Kong he couldn’t bring himself to celebrate them as alone as he was; and after, once he was home again, well. It was a disaster, to say the least, so now Oliver just counts the twenty-fifth as one day more.

Or at least used to, because here, standing on the main floor of STAR Labs with his whole team- Felicity, Dig, Roy, and Laurel- and Barry’s, it really does feel like Christmas, at least a little.

But a little is all he cares about, because fuck, this was- still _is_ , to a degree- his favourite holiday. And with STAR Labs decorated like it is, all fairy lights and mistletoe and colours (“It’s funny because if it weren’t for the reindeer, we’d be throwing a Flarrow party!” Cisco had said, and all Oliver could say about that was, “Flarrow? Seriously?”).

Caitlin’s smile is bright for the first time since Oliver’s met her, and Cisco’s joking around with Felicity- “I thought you were Jewish?” He’s asking, and Felicity’s smiling, saying, “Yeah, but this is hardly religious, isn’t it?”- and even Wells is talking amicably with Laurel, sporting a ugly-ass _Ho Ho Ho_ Christmas sweater.

The only one not smiling is Barry, and Oliver goes over to him, eggnog in hand.

“Where’s your holiday cheer, Barry?” He asks, handing one of the mugs he has in hand over. “Did something happen?”

Barry smiles softly at him, but it doesn’t quite reach his eyes when he says, “Yeah, no, I’m fine, I just- uh, you were right.”

And okay, those aren’t words Oliver is used to hearing. “About what?” He asks, because really, he hasn’t talked to Barry about anything he can actually think that would end with him being the voice of reason.

“Guys like us, we don’t get the girl,” Barry answers sadly, and that tone _really_ doesn’t fit him. Oliver had been so used to his joy he never realised this but damn, he’d give anything to put that smile back on his face.

But with this… there really is nothing he can say to make it better, is there?

That doesn’t mean he isn’t going to at least _try,_ because alright, his crush is ridiculous and Barry’s his friend. They really don’t need another hero to be so serious and brooding, anyway.  

“Iris?” Oliver asks. Barry nods with a sigh and a humourless laugh.

“I don’t know why- I mean, it was stupid. I literally chose the worst time to tell her. She and Eddie, they moved in together last month, and they’re happy, y’know? It was selfish of me to even think I had a chance,” Barry says. “I just, I couldn’t keep it from her anymore. There are too many secrets between us.”

Oliver nods. “I understand,” he says, and Barry smiles at him- “Have you told Felicity?” He asks, and Oliver can’t bring himself to lie.

“I’ve been over her for a while,” he says. “We tried, you know, a few months ago, and it- it didn’t really work out.”

Barry smiles sympathetically, and says, “Sorry,” in lack of anything else. Oliver laughs lowly, shaking his head, and says, “It really is okay. I- there’s someone else I’m interested in these days.”

His heart aches a little when Barry smirks at him. He truly is clueless, isn’t he?

“Oh, she must be really lucky,” Barry says. “Having Oliver Queen crushing on you, what else could one want?” He laughs, and Oliver follows.

“I wouldn’t think people consider themselves lucky with me lately,” he says, but he’s laughing.

Barry shakes his head and his voice drops when he says, “Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure.”

They’d been so caught up in their conversation that they don’t notice everyone going silent and staring at them until Oliver turns, eyes meeting Felicity’s.

“What,” he says, and Barry turns to the others, too, eyebrows drawn.

“Is everything okay?” He asks, looking at everyone- they’re all smiling in different intensities, Oliver notes, and he wonders _why._

“It’s rude to stare, you know,” Oliver tries. Cisco barks out a laugh, making Wells frown, and then points to somewhere over them… and _oh_.

They’d been standing near the entrance, under the frame, and right there straight over them is..

“Mistletoe, You two!” Felicity says, and she chuckles. “You have to smooch! Or not like, _smooch,_ just kiss.”

Barry looks up, and he breathes an _oh,_ but now all Oliver can do is stare at his lips.

“We don’t have to if you don’t wanna,” Barry stutters, cheeks as red as his sweater.

And Oliver can’t really think to say anything, so he just frowns and nods, before gingerly putting his hand on Barry’s cheek and whispering, “It’s just a kiss.”

Barry gulps visibly, and Oliver thinks it’s adorable, the way he blushes all the way up to his ears, and nods- “Just a kiss,” he says, then leans in tentatively for Oliver to meet him in the middle into a kiss that tastes like peppermint and eggnog.

They press lips for a few seconds, and then Barry pulls away, his face hot under Oliver’s hand, and stares at Oliver with bright, bashful eyes; he hears the others cheering, and going back to whatever they were doing, but all Oliver is thinking about now is Barry’s smile and how he really wants to kiss him again.

But he doesn’t.  He just smiles at Barry and pulls way, oblivious to Barry’s smile falling, and turns back to the others. “There,” he says awkwardly, and they all cheer a little and return to their previous conversations- Dig gives him this _look_ and Oliver ignores it, instead walking away from the mistletoe and Barry.

He’s still sad, after, but he’s good at hiding it even his smiles when he’s talking to Felicity feel forced- when Oliver tries to talk to him it’s awkward, and as much as Oliver wants to confront it he doesn’t, cause that’s what he does best: ignore his problems and will them to go away. Or maybe fight them to the death when they come bite him in the ass later, though he hopes that it won’t come to that, not again.

He loves Barry too much, and that realisation terrifies him more than the reminder of his red, angry eyes ever will. He can’t not let himself love Barry- he knows that- so he will focus on not letting Barry love _him._ Good things aren’t something that can come out of loving Oliver, after all, and the last thing he wants for Barry is for him to be hurt.

He realises, though, that he’s hurt him anyway the moment he walked away, but well. Whatever. They can talk after all of this is over- which doesn’t happen until months after Christmas and that day- and it seems too late to fix it though it isn’t.

And they _do_ fix it, with more kisses and actual snuggling, after Oliver pulls his head out of his ass and faces his feelings after he comes back from the dead.

Took them a while, though. A _while._

**Author's Note:**

> my Tumblr is over [here!](http://coolerthan0k.tumblr.com>hereeeee</a>) come say hi? :D


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